ATG People in the News 7/24/16

As the Charleston County Public Library gears up for a massive renovation and construction effort, it has hired a heavy hitter as its new executive director: Nicolle Davies, Library Journal’s 2016 librarian of the year.

The national industry publicationpraised Daviesin January for her leadership of the Arapahoe Library District, which serves the suburbs of Denver, Colo. Since starting as executive director there in 2012, she stocked the system’s libraries with 3-D printers and virtual-reality headsets, oversaw the construction of a new branch and pushed for renovations that included a recording studio and live theater space. The magazine also credited her leadership for constituents’ decision to raise their own taxes in 2015, increasing the library system’s budget by 25 percent.

Arapahoe Library District Board President Katie Schroeder said she recently attended a conference on library innovation and heard about practices that Arapahoe librarians had adopted years ago. She said Davies transformed everything from the way staff interact with patrons to the addition of “forward-facing” hands-on technology experiences, such as robotics and drone piloting.

“She is driven, she knows what she wants and she is willing to be dedicated to whatever she is working on and make sure it gets done,” Schroeder said.

In announcing her move to Charleston County, Davies said she was pleased to join “a community that invests in their libraries…”

KnowledgeSpeak reports that “ITHAKA, the not-for-profit leader in advancing and preserving knowledge and improving education worldwide, has announced that Vassar College President Catharine (Cappy) Bond Hill will join the organisation as Managing Director of its research and consulting service, Ithaka S+R, in September, 2016.

Hill, one of higher education’s most impactful college presidents and an accomplished economist, will lead Ithaka S+R’s national work as a partner and trusted source of research for college and university leaders, academic libraries, policy analysts and funders. Hill will succeed Deanna Marcum, who will continue to serve as senior advisor. Under Marcum’s stewardship, Ithaka S+R developed highly-regarded programs in Educational Transformation and Libraries and Scholarly Communication, producing research and services to improve education by delivering better outcomes for students as well as providing leadership for the evolving scholarly communication ecosystem.

For the past ten years, Hill has served as president of Vassar College, one of the top liberal arts schools in the United States. Under her presidency, Vassar has emerged as a national leader in improving affordability and enrolling a more socioeconomically diverse student body, including being awarded the inaugural one-million dollar Cooke Prize for Equity in Educational Excellence in 2015 from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation…”

KnowledgeSpeak also notes that ” TheHighWireleadership team has been further strengthened by the appointment of three key individuals following the opening remarks by HighWire Press, Inc. CEO, Dan Filby, at the Spring HighWire Publishers’ Meeting. The new appointments include John Doherty, Director Technical Support; Andre Kvaternik, Senior Director Professional Services; and Rob Smyth, Director of Engineering Quality Assurance.

John and Rob have over 15 years’ experience each of building and leading dynamic, fast-paced technical support and QA organisations; while Andre has over 20 years’ experience leading high-performing development and deployment teams within service organizations, all with global companies. Andre is based in California at HighWire’s head office, while John and Rob will operate from the new Belfast International Centre. All hires are ideally placed to provide service and support to HighWire’s growing global customer base…”

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